Energy technology company General Electric (GE) is tripling manufacturing capacity for its solar and battery energy storage power electronics systems by the end of this year to 9 GW/y, linked to strong growth in backlogs over the past few months and a robust demand outlook. The systems are manufactured at GE’s newly launched Renewable Hybrids factory in Vallam, near Chennai, India.
Industry body Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) is challenging the decision by the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) board to cancel critical infrastructure tenders worth R17.5-billion on the basis that the adjudication process was flawed owing to the involvement of design engineers in the tender adjudication process.
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to increased retrenchments and job losses in the consulting engineering industry, which, in turn, has led to a skills drain in the sector, temporary works consultant Waco Engineering Services MD Otto Botha says.
Growthpoint Properties, South Africa’s largest real estate investment trust, said its running out of diesel to operate generators at some of its buildings as the country grapples with the worst electricity shortage since 2019. In a letter to customers at one of its sites in Johannesburg the company said it suppliers are struggling to keep up as Eskom Holdings, the national power utility, cuts as much as 6 000 megawatts from the national grid after a pay strike disrupted operations.
Power utility Eskom on Thursday said it would again implement Stage 6 load-shedding, from 14:00 until midnight, as the unlawful strike by employees continues. Stage 4 load-shedding will be implemented from 00:00 to 05:00 on Friday. From 05:00 until 00:00 on Friday, load-shedding will be implemented at Stage 6.
After a week of protests at Eskom operations that no one has claimed responsibility for plunged the country into Stage 6 load-shedding, two unions are now dealing with members who are pushing for an outright rejection of a new wage offer. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Solidarity are expected to return to wage talks at the Central Bargaining Forum (CBF) on Friday. Several reports have said Eskom has upped it’s offer to 7%, though there has been no official confirmation on that.
JSE-listed industrial group Reunert has set its sights on capturing a critical market in South Africa and beyond: renewable energy. The group, during its investor day showcase on June 28, highlighted its renewable energy strategy execution, which leverages its renewable energy cluster that spans solar energy embedded generation engineering, procurement and construction; solar energy asset ownership through a build-own-operate (BOO) model; high performance, ultrareliable, locally manufactured storage solutions; and smart energy control and management solutions.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has come out in support of nuclear plant lifetime extension programmes, as Eskom pushes ahead with its plans to extend the life of the Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape. A new IEA report, titled ‘Nuclear Power and Secure Energy Transitions’, argues that life extensions are a “cost-effective source of low-emission electricity, estimated at less than $50/MWh for a 10- to 20-year extension”.
JSE-listed petrochemicals group Sasol says South African gas development company iGas and Companhia Mocambiçana de Gasoduto (CMG) have exercised their pre-emptive right to acquire a 30% equity interest in the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Company (Rompco) pipeline.
The companies exercised this right after Sasol announced in May last year that its subsidiary, SSA, had agreed to sell a 30% equity interest in Rompco to an acquisition vehicle beneficially owned by a consortium.
Eskom offers workers 7% increase after illegal protests Eskom Holdings is offering workers a 7% wage increase, after the utility lost units during illegal protests that plunged South Africa into the worst blackouts since 2019, according to people familiar with the information.
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